


And they were roommates! (Oh my god, they were roommates)

by StrangeNoise



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Anxiety, Ben and Mike are Eddie's college roommates, Bickering as Flirting, Blow Jobs, Eddie is college age, Flirting, Getting Together, Kissing, M/M, Masturbation, Pining, Richie is chapter 2 canonical age, Self-Doubt, midlife-crisis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-28
Updated: 2020-11-28
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:27:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27756127
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrangeNoise/pseuds/StrangeNoise
Summary: When Richie has an early midlife crisis, he decides that moving in with a bunch of college students sounds like a great idea. Unfortunately, one of them is pretty hot which only throws Richie into his next major crisis...
Relationships: Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier
Comments: 3
Kudos: 73





	And they were roommates! (Oh my god, they were roommates)

If anyone asked Richie what got into him that made him decide one day to the next that his flat was far too big for just one person alone and that he desperately needed company, he would tell them he has no idea and that would be true. It’s just that Richie turned 40 earlier this year and it was a pretty lonely affair. Of course, he invited a ton of friends but most of them have kids now and Richie doesn’t want kids at his party. Which meant his friends had to find babysitters and when most of them couldn’t find one for that particular night, Richie was left with a rather small circle of guests. In and of itself that wouldn’t have been too bad but all of them were talking about their kids, jobs, or marriages while Richie was sitting somewhere in between them all – single for almost seven years, never married, no kids and still getting odd looks when he explained that he ‘does comedy’ for a living – and felt terribly out of place. 

He doesn’t blame it on his friends. They’re simply at a different part in their lives from him and that’s fine. But at the same time, Richie feels a distinct lack of connection with these people. 

That is when he thinks that maybe he should seek out the company of people, who might not be his age but at a similar point in life. Richie begins to visit bars that are frequented mostly by college kids and gets into some really nice conversations. He even exchanges numbers with some people, and they message each other occasionally. But Richie is beyond that age where he can just hop off the couch and go party until dawn at the drop of a hat. As much as he hates it, he’s not getting any younger and even those nights out at all those bars definitely took their toll on him.

At that point, Richie figures he could move in with someone else instead. He could be around people, who understand him, without even having to leave the house. Most of the young adults he talked to these past weeks lived with a ton of roommates. And as terrible as some of their stories were, Richie still thinks he can handle living with others. Hell, he lived in various living arrangements during his own time in college and if there’s anything about that time he remembers fondly, it’s the long nights and conversations shared in the main room or the kitchen of a flat that was far too small for the number of people currently in it. 

Richie mulls those thoughts over for a week or two. He desperately wants the company but at the same time, he’s worried he’s going to miss the freedom having his own place grants him. Eventually, he decides to just go for it, however. If there is one major difference between college-Richie and now-Richie is that forty-year-old-Richie not only has enough money to always pay his rent on time but also to move out of a situation he is no longer comfortable in at any time. So, about a month after he first had those thoughts, Richie signs up on a site for people looking for a room or for roommates. Within a week, he’s invited to meet the tenants of a flat on the other side of the city, who are looking for a new roommate. 

As he sits in front of two men in their mid-twenties and jokes endlessly about his midlife-crisis, Richie is pretty sure he’s not going to get the room. Despite all his years networking and getting to know people in his business he’s still terrible at selling himself. The older of the two current inhabitants of the flat, a polite guy named Mike, who asked several more probing questions than Richie is comfortable answering, tells the brunet that they have to consult their third roommate, Eddie, first and Richie is pretty sure that’s just his way of telling him they’re not interested in living with a forty-year-old wannabe-comedian. But three days later Richie gets a text from Ben, the other guy doing his roommate-interview, who tells him that all three of them would be thrilled to have Richie move in with them. 

Before he knows it, Richie’s moving out of his old apartment and into a room in a flat full of college students. It takes some getting used to not to get spooked by noises in the hallway or people asking him to join them for dinner, but Richie gets used to it quickly and does enjoy it quite a bit. The only strange thing is that, so far, Richie’s only met Mike and Ben.

At some point, it’s four days into Richie living at his new place and he still hasn’t met his third roommate, Eddie. By now, he assumes that he’s one of those phantom roommates he’s heard so much about, who technically live in a flat but only show up once a month when rent is due or they need a change of clothes. And Richie doesn’t mind that per se. He’d just like to meet the guy before one of them comes home late one night and thinks the other is a stranger and calls 911. Richie hasn’t even seen pictures, strangely enough. The shared flats he remembers from when he was in college usually had their walls full of photos from parties or just the roommates hanging out. But there’s only two postcards on the fridge and some paintings Mike put up on the walls. Maybe the others’ rooms look different, but Richie hasn’t had a chance to go in there and check. 

So, Richie sits at the kitchen island in his boxers and an old shirt on a Thursday morning thinking about his new living arrangements as he shovels through his second bowl of cereal. It’s far too early for his liking but he isn’t completely used to the new place yet and that makes him sleep even worse than he usually does. After he’d woken up for about the sixth time at five in the morning, he’d decided to just stay up and take a nap later if he needed to. 

He is just about to finish his cereal when the front door opens, and someone enters. Richie can’t see them at first but then a young man in a pastel blue shirt and the shortest black pants Richie has ever seen enters the room, humming to some melody in his head as he goes.

“Hey”, Richie says, not sure how to deal with the sight in front of him. He is somewhat sure that this is Eddie but he has no idea how lax Mike and Ben are when it comes to giving their friends keys to the flat so this could potentially be a complete stranger, too.

“Oh, hey”, the man says and cocks his head, “You the new guy?” 

Richie nods and holds his hand out to introduce himself.

“Richie”, he mumbles around a mouthful of cereal. Eddie doesn’t take his hand and instead just waves at him cheerfully.

“I’m Eddie”, he introduces himself, then turns around and sticks his head in the fridge. When he resurfaces, he’s got a can of some shady looking energy drink in hand. He opens it and downs what has to be half of its contents in one go. Richie uses the silence to look at the roommate he’s now meeting for the first time and isn’t sure what to make of the situation. He has no idea where Eddie was these past days but if his pasty skin and clothing are anything to go by, he probably just came home from a party. Whether that party lasted four days or Eddie just partied really hard last night, Richie can’t say. But the younger man is definitely pale and there are dark circles under his eyes. Richie’s also pretty sure there’s some glitter on him but he isn’t even going to question that.

“Nice to finally meet you”, Richie says and smiles, “I was starting to think maybe you were just some imaginary roommate Mike and Ben made up…” Eddie chuckles dryly at that, then shakes his head and empties the rest of the energy drink.

“No worries, I do exist and I always pay the rent on time”, he lets Richie know, “If you must know, I was at a friend’s for the week to study for an exam and then to celebrate getting through that exam alive.”

“Sorry, I wasn’t trying to pry…”, Richie mutters but Eddie waves him off almost immediately, then checks his phone.

“Yeah, I know. No worries. But sorry, I don’t have any more time to chat right now. I got classes in ninety minutes and I need a shower. So…see you at dinner.” 

Before Richie can even comment on any of this, Eddie has left the room. He hears some doors at the far end of the flat open and close and then the shower is being turned on. While Eddie gets ready for his day, Richie is just staring into his cereal, wondering when he had last been out to party the whole night and then still been able to get any work done the next day. He decides not to follow that thought for much longer when the result simply tells him that he had been depressingly younger than he is now. With a sigh, he finishes his breakfast, put the bowl in the sink, and then retreats back to his room to try and work on his new special some more. 

An hour later, Mike knocks on his door and asks him to please not leave dishes in the sink, unless he wants Eddie’s wrath directed at him. Richie apologizes and promises not to do it again while wondering at the same time how the young man he met this morning could be a party animal and a clean freak at the same time. In the end, he mutters something to himself about the duality of man and notes that down on his brainstorming sheet for the upcoming meeting with his agent. 

Later that day, Richie does see Eddie again for dinner. Ben cooked for the whole flat which, apparently, he often does on Fridays and it’s ridiculously good. The three younger men keep talking about college, incompetent professors, and unhelpful offices and Richie is just glad to listen in. It reminds him of the time in his life when he was in college himself and he would meet with his friends to talk about everything and nothing for hours on end. Now, he is the only one, who still has that kind of free time on his hands. All his friends either moved several states away or are too busy working nine to five office jobs, building houses, and raising kids. Even after his awkward birthday party, Richie hadn’t truly realized how much he craved some good company until now. Sitting around the dinner table with Mike, Ben, and Eddie that evening and having a casual conversation is so nice it makes Richie want to cry for a minute there. 

But while he listens, he also has an opportunity to get a better look at Eddie. He feels he knows at least the basics about Mike and Ben now, but he has no idea who Eddie is beyond his name and the fact that he lives with them. During dinner, Richie learns that Eddie speaks twice as fast as anyone he has ever met and that he has a tendency to get extremely annoyed when something isn’t organized perfectly. Mike has to interrupt his tirade about student offices and the poor secretaries there several times before Eddie finally drops the subject. Richie also learns that Eddie is a business major working hard to get his master’s degree the next year. Between Ben’s architecture studies and Mike being an English literature major, it does seem a bit odd and Richie can’t help himself but comment on it.

“So, which parent made you go into business?”, he asks when Eddie has been quiet for a second or two, “Isn’t that something you do to please your daddy but secretly you want to be an actor or something?” The next thing Richie knows is that Eddie fixes him with a glare so disapproving it reminds him of his eighth-grade math teacher. 

“I’m in business because I like it and because I happen to be amazing with numbers”, Eddie tells him with an edge to his voice that cuts right through Richie, “Not everyone fits all the clichés in your head, okay? Not that you have much room to judge anyway.”

“Now what is that supposed to mean?”, Richie wants to know, raising a brow. 

“Well, for one, my first question for Mike and Ben when they told me you were some semi-famous comedian was not ‘oh boy I wonder what issues this guy has that he hasn’t dropped comedy yet and gotten an actual job’, because I am not a judgmental dick.”

“I don’t know, you’re sounding pretty judgmental right now…”

“You started it!”, Eddie calls out before Mike interrupts him with a question about dinner. 

Eddie huffs and puffs a little longer but does not seem to actually be upset about Richie’s comment. Meanwhile, the brunet is delighted to have found someone, who doesn’t just roll his eyes at his bullshit but actually fights him on it. It’s been way too long since anyone had done that, and Richie thinks Eddie is probably a pretty worthy opponent when it comes to teasing and bickering. At the same time, he catches himself thinking that Eddie looks really cute all frowning and upset as he is now. But he quickly shuts that thought down. Eddie is at least ten years his junior and his roommate at that. There is no way this wouldn’t end in more chaos and heartbreak than it’s worth. And that is Richie being extremely self-confident and assuming Eddie would actually be interested in someone his age.

That thought quickly gets too depressing, however, and Richie goes to distract himself by teasing Eddie some more and, thankfully, the other immediately takes him up on it. 

In the following weeks, Richie settles more and more into this new living arrangement. It is a bit strange to have almost constant noise around and other people walking through the flat after years of living alone but Richie quickly finds he doesn’t mind it one bit. After the first few days of getting used to living with someone, Richie can’t imagine ever living on his own again. 

He gets along great with Ben and Mike, who are usually up for a chat at any hour of the day so if Richie gets stuck somewhere creatively, he can always go and distract himself for an hour or so before he gets back to work. Of course, Richie does get along with Eddie too, but that happens in a different way from the other two. While conversations with Mike and Ben are always pleasantly calm, whether it’s about college, buying groceries, or the news, Richie and Eddie find something to bicker about in almost every topic of conversation that might come up. It’s their way of communicating and it works for them – even if it confuses their roommates. 

After the first few days of this, Richie had actually worried for a moment that he might be misreading the situation and Eddie was actually mad at him. But usually, once one of them decides to drop the topic or leave the room, Eddie rolls his eyes at Richie one last time in a way that is so fond that there is no doubt that Eddie doesn’t mind their bickering one bit. 

The downside to the whole thing is, however, that Richie just can’t stop thinking about how cute Eddie is. The thought comes to him unbidden but frequently now. And it isn’t confined to Eddie being angry with Richie either. Sometimes Eddie will just sit on the couch in the living room or eat lunch in the kitchen and Richie will think it is the cutest thing he has ever seen. Every time those thoughts come, Richie pushes them down as fast as he can, telling himself he’s just some creep preying on some poor, innocent twenty-something college student because he hasn’t gotten laid in a while. Sometimes he also excuses himself by telling himself that he thinks Eddie is cute in the way that puppies are cute and not in the ‘if I could hold him forever, I would be the happiest I’ve ever been’ kind of way he actually does. 

But while thinking Eddie is cute is something Richie can deal with and talk himself out of, he starts to realize as the weeks pass that Eddie is also pretty hot. The first time he notices that is about a week and a half after he moves in. Richie could barely sleep all night for some unknown reason and is having an early breakfast again when Eddie comes in from a morning run. He’s wearing a skintight top and another pair of those shorts that are so short and tight that Richie wonders if they’re actually painted on. Eddie retreats to the bathroom almost immediately, so Richie only sees him in the hallway for about half a minute. But it’s enough to have him almost drooling in his cereal while his brain fabricates scenes of him licking the sweat off Eddie’s skin.

Richie shuts that down just as quickly as the more innocent thoughts and scolds himself quietly for being such a horny bastard. He feels guilty at the stirring between his legs and tells his dick to calm the fuck down because Eddie is his roommate and surely didn’t plan on being lusted after by Richie once he moved in. The brunet writes those thoughts off as being horny but when he swipes through that one hookup app he has on his phone and that he almost never uses, he cannot find anyone, who fits his taste that day. So, he resigns himself to shamefully jerking off about five times throughout the day – a number he didn’t think he had still in him – while thinking of anything but Eddie or licking the sweat off someone’s skin. 

Things take a turn for the worse about a week later. Richie is in the living room, playing a video game with Ben when Eddie enters the room in nothing but a towel and demands they listen to his complaints. Ben obeys immediately and Richie wants to make some snarky remark but when he turns to Eddie, the words die on his tongue. He had seen one or two of Eddie’s tattoos on his arms before, but he had no idea his whole chest is covered in them too. So, while Eddie complains to Ben about something in the bathroom not working correctly, Richie drinks in the sight of him, his eyes following the dark lines all over the other man’s torso. There’s birds and stars and something that looks like a movie quote. All those tattoos look amazing artistically, but Richie can’t help but zero in on the soft, pink nipples between all those lines. Before he can stop himself, his mind is running off again and coming up with beautiful mental images of him sucking on Eddie’s nipples until the younger man is a sobbing, breathless mess underneath him. 

Richie quickly averts his gaze but, apparently, not quickly enough.

“Hey, my eyes are up here, dickhead”, Eddie calls out but there’s no venom in it and when Richie’s head snaps up, the younger man is smirking down at him, “I’m trying to discuss a serious issue here and all you can do is stare at my tattoos.” But the smirk stays on Eddie’s face and Richie can tell he knows he hasn’t been looking at his tattoos – at least not exclusively. Next to them, Ben clears his throat.

“I’ll have a look at it, Eddie”, he says, “Richie can help if he wants to but I’m pretty sure I can get this fixed on my own.”

“Fine”, Eddie sighs without looking at Ben, “Glad to know at least one of you is paying attention to what I’m saying.” Then, he turns on his heel and leaves the living room again. Richie isn’t sure if he imagines it or not, but he’s pretty sure there’s an added sway to Eddie’s hips as he walks back to his room and it makes him go red in the face. When Eddie is gone, Ben clears his throat next to Richie.

“Look, I can’t promise that Mike will like it but I don’t mind, you know?”, he says and Richie turns his head to stare at him so quickly it leaves him dizzy, “Just…be civil, okay? I like both of you and finding new roommates is annoying. I’d hate to lose either of you because of…whatever this is between you.”

“Oh, not to worry, dearest Benjamin”, Richie answers after he’s worked through the initial shock Ben’s words left and feels like he’s able to speak again, “There’s nothing between Eddie and me and there won’t be.” In his mind, he adds the words _“I know better than that”_ but he doesn’t voice them. This is the quickest way to shut down a discussion like this and when Richie starts their video game back up, Ben drops the subject entirely in favor of focusing on what’s happening on screen. 

That doesn’t mean, however, that Eddie drops the subject. He never speaks about it, of course, but the way he puts some extra sway in his walk whenever he passes Richie in the hallway or the kitchen and the glances he throws him speak for themselves. And of course, that opens up a whole new predicament for Richie. Until now, he had shut most of his hornier fantasies down by telling himself Eddie wouldn’t want him either way. But now Eddie is showing very obvious signs that he doesn’t mind Richie’s attention in the slightest and that is a problem. Or it is one for as long as it takes Richie to convince himself that, surely, Eddie doesn’t really mean it. Maybe this is a game for him, where he gets Richie’s hopes up for his own entertainment. Eddie doesn’t seem this cruel usually but maybe he likes the attention of someone being interested in him. 

Richie wracks his brain about that far more than he should in the following days. If he’s honest with himself, he thinks of little else. Whatever it is that he’s currently doing, his thoughts inevitably wander back to Eddie. He even dreams about the guy at some point and with each passing day, it gets harder for Richie not to imagine him when he’s touching himself. The thing is, even if Eddie shows clear signs of being interested in Richie, the older man still doesn’t think it’s a good idea to react to it. Part of it is his low self-esteem telling him that Eddie’s only playing games and doesn’t truly want him. But mostly, Richie is worried that them doing anything together would seem weird.

Maybe it’s just that Richie spends too much time on the internet these days but the public opinion seems to be that any relationship with a significant age gap is inherently predatory. It’s something that seems kind of silly to Richie, especially after he learned that Eddie moved out from home pretty much the day he turned eighteen and fended for himself ever since. The brunet doubts he could make someone as headstrong and determined as Eddie do his bidding just because the other man is younger and therefore, supposedly, more inexperienced and easier to influence. Richie is pretty sure that if they were a couple and he tried to set some controlling or toxic ground rules Eddie would simply flip him off and tell him to get fucked. 

And yet, those thoughts don’t let go of Richie. Even if he knows he’d never do anything to try and control or manipulate Eddie, other people don’t. And that is something Richie doesn’t want – neither for himself nor for Eddie. He doesn’t want people assuming things about them or some would-be-relationship between them because of their ages. 

So, every time he reaches that part of his train of thought, Richie tells himself that they aren’t even dating in the first place and therefore his worries are unfounded. And to keep it that way, he has to keep his paws off Eddie to spare them both the trouble. And that’s where Richie’s daydreaming ends and he pushes those thoughts away entirely. 

After around four weeks in the new living quarters, Mike and Ben tell Richie that it’s custom that a new roommate cooks for the rest of the group at the end of their first month in the flat. Richie feels a little overwhelmed at first because, even after years of living by himself and having to feed himself, he still has no idea how to actually _cook_. But he’s been told he makes pretty good spaghetti and he’s never one to back down from a challenge so on the Friday that marks his first full month in the new flat Richie finds himself in the kitchen preparing a nice dinner for himself and the others.

At some point, he thinks about how insane it is that it’s already been a month since he moved in here. It feels like it only happened yesterday. Then again, Richie figures, he’s been pretty busy ignoring thoughts about thinking his twenty-five-year-old roommate is hot while simultaneously wondering if said roommate thought Richie was hot, too. 

There was, of course, the evidence of Eddie flirting with Richie more or less openly in the way he moved around him or the way their bickering played out. But that stopped entirely for the past three days. Eddie’s busy with a group project for college that’s in its final throes and for the past week, he’s been more irritable than anything. The smallest thing would set him off and that foul mood obviously put a stop to the flirting and banter between him and Richie too.

As he is busy in the kitchen, Richie tries not to think about how much he already misses that. It has only been three days without near-constant attention by Eddie and he is already yearning to have it again. He can only hope that the group presentation Eddie was working on for the last week and is going to be held today will be good and put the younger man in a better mood again. 

By the time dinner is served, Richie is more nervous than he would like to admit about Eddie’s mood. He hadn’t heard the other come in but when he calls out into the hallway that dinner will be ready in five, he hears three separate doors open. And before he even gets a chance to bring the food to the living room, Eddie is already next to him in the kitchen, getting a bottle of cheap red wine from the fridge and putting another one in to chill.

“So…that group project go well?”, Richie asks as Eddie digs through a drawer next to him. He doesn’t answer until he finally, triumphantly, finds the corkscrew and drives it into the cork of his wine bottle with more force than necessary.

“Well enough, I guess”, he mutters, glaring at the bottle in his hands, “But not thanks to my dickhead groupmates. God, if I could get every single one of them kicked out of college I would…” 

Before Richie can ask a follow-up question, Eddie has managed to get the cork out of the bottle, drops the corkscrew in the sink unceremoniously, and leaves the kitchen again. Richie raises a brow as he fills the overabundance of spaghetti into a bowl but doesn’t think much of it. He’s sure he’ll hear more about the presentation during dinner. 

It turns out, however, that Richie is wrong for once. By the time he brings the bowl of spaghetti into the dining area and places it on the table, Eddie is already halfway down a glass of red wine and when he returns not a minute later with the sauce and cheese, the whole glass is empty and Eddie is in the process of refilling it. Mike, Ben, and Richie all demand a glass of red wine, too, but it feels like it’s more out of an attempt to keep Eddie from emptying the whole bottle by himself instead of a real desire for a drink. Luckily, Eddie stops after his second glass of wine in favor of getting into a heated debate with Mike over the demands of a modern college education. 

Richie is mostly just listening to those two, even though, he does get in a lengthy discussion about architecture styles with Ben, too. All in all, it is a pleasant evening and Richie gets a ridiculous amount of praise for the spaghetti dish he made even though it really isn’t that great. What makes him even happier than the praise, though, is Eddie returning to his chatty, energetic self. He still seems a little on edge about his college work, but he doesn’t bring it up once during dinner. Instead, by the time they’re done eating, he’s back to his usual banter with Richie. The older man can’t even say how relieved he is to have this back. He is so happy, in fact, that he doesn’t even bother pushing thoughts about how hot annoyed Eddie is to the side. 

Despite everyone having a good time, Mike and Eddie are exhausted from college work and get tired rather early into the night. When Mike announces only a little after eleven that he’s going to go to bed, the evening is effectively over. Richie asks Ben if he’s up for a few rounds of street fighter on his console but the other man declines. He has a college project he needs to get to and that he’s been pushing off for weeks now. 

So, despite not being tired in the slightest, Richie decides to head to his room. Maybe he can get some writing done for his next job in three weeks. But as he walks down the hallway, someone grabs him by the wrist, stopping him in his tracks. When he turns, he finds Eddie in front of him. There’s an indecipherable look on his face and Richie raises a brow at him. 

“Can you come to my room for a second? There’s something I wanted to ask you”, Eddie asks, and immediately, Richie’s heart is in his throat. He’s looking for a way out of this but finds none that wouldn’t feel like flat-out rejection and that’s not something he wants to do to Eddie. They’re both adults after all and whatever it is Eddie wants to talk about, the brunet is sure they can figure it out. 

“Sure”, Richie answers and follows Eddie to his room.

But once the door closes behind them, Eddie’s lips are on his, and Richie’s brain short-circuits. He’s so torn between kissing back and pushing Eddie away to save them both the trouble in the long run that he ends up doing nothing. After a few moments, Eddie pulls away and looks at him, confused and somewhat hurt. 

“I’m sorry”, he says, blush rising on his cheeks, “I thought there was something…” The younger man looks so defeated and Richie knows on instinct that he isn’t going to insist on anything. If Richie were to leave the room now without an explanation or even another word, Eddie would let him and that would be the end of that. But Richie would feel like a bastard until the end of his days if he did that. He owes Eddie an explanation at least. 

“I mean, I guess there is…”, he mutters, feeling himself blush too, “But like…is this really what you want?” Richie gestures vaguely at himself as he speaks and earns himself a raised brow from Eddie.

“I wouldn’t have kissed you if I wasn’t interested in you, idiot.” He rolls his eyes as he speaks but there’s something guarded still in his expression as if he expects another blow from Richie. 

“Cool…thanks, I guess”, Richie presses out, his thoughts scattered all across his brain and making it hard to get out a complete sentence, “Really appreciate it but…I don’t think I could do this for only one night…”

“Who said this was only one night?”, Eddie wants to know and crosses his arms in front of his chest, “I thought we’d been flirting for weeks now. That’s not something I do with a guy I only wanna spend one night with.” 

It does make sense, a traitorous part of Richie’s brain says. It’s the same part that keeps producing all those thoughts about how hot Eddie is and how nice it would feel to hold him. Now, it’s egging Richie on, urging him to tell Eddie how much he’s been thinking about him. Instead, he keeps his mouth shut for a good few seconds before blurting out:

“But why me? Aren’t there a lot more suitable guys at college? Like…maybe someone closer to your age?” 

“I don’t mind your age”, Eddie says without hesitating for even a second, “Yeah, you’re older than me. So what?” Richie is just about to answer when Eddie looks him directly in the eyes and asks: “Do you care that I’m younger than you?” 

Richie bites his lower lip at that. The answer seems far too complicated and ridiculously simple at the same time. He doesn’t care about Eddie’s age – but what if others do? When he voices those thoughts, he is rewarded with another eye roll from Eddie. 

“Who cares what other people think?!”, the younger man exclaims, “We like each other so why shouldn’t we be together? We both know you’re not some creep or whatever it is people worry about when they stick their noses in stuff that is none of their business.” Eddie shuts his mouth and huffs out an angry breath after that. Richie can see he’s agitated and he can’t blame him. Now that they’re out in the open, his worries about what other people might think do seem kind of stupid. Blushing deeper, Richie feels like an idiot for even voicing them when Eddie is so confident that being with Richie is what he wants. 

“Can I get another kiss to help me with those dumb thoughts?”, he asks, hoping he hasn’t ruined everything beyond repair already. Eddie heaves a deep sigh but takes another step closer to Richie.

“Fine”, he says, “But only because I already know you’re a fucking idiot at the best of times and I’m assuming that all those dumb, confusing thoughts about me have made you even stupider.” 

Before Richie can answer, Eddie closes the gap between them, getting on the tips of his toes to press his lips to Richie’s in a firm but gentle kiss. The brunet feels his heart pounding away in his chest as his eyes slide shut and he allows himself to sink into the kiss this time. It’s good, amazing even and Richie begins to wonder how he could ever go without this for so long. Eddie is a fantastic kisser and by the time his tongue starts poking at Richie’s bottom lip, begging for entrance, the older man is well and truly gone for him. All those worries about what others might think or if Eddie wouldn’t be happier with someone his own age that had seemed so big just moments ago now melt like ice cubes in the sun. They might come back – Richie knows himself well enough to know his brain never gives him a break for too long – but for now, they evaporate at the prospect of getting to kiss Eddie like this more often.

When their kiss eventually comes to an end, they’re both out of breath and smiling stupidly at one another.

“So, you still worried other people will judge you for being with me?”, Eddie asks, a cheeky grin pulling at the corners of his mouth. He looks more self-satisfied than he has any right to and Richie can only assume how wrecked he looks right now. 

“I guess not”, he says, and then, because he still can’t believe it, he asks: “So…you really want to be with me? Like…as your actual boyfriend?” 

“I’d like that very much”, Eddie answers and he looks almost coy as he says it. It’s disarming and extremely endearing so, really, all Richie can do is pull him in for another kiss and hold him as tight as he possibly can. 

They make out like this for a while longer, Richie, with his back to the door and Eddie pulled as close to his chest as possible. The brunet is pretty sure he hasn’t felt like this since he was in college himself and was truly in love for the first time. But being with Eddie right now feels even more important and all-encompassing than that. Richie cannot believe he denied himself this for even one day, let alone a whole month. In hindsight, it really isn’t that much but it feels like a small eternity. And now, Eddie is here, and in his arms and more than willing to be with Richie. It’s still hard to grasp but with the amount of enthusiasm Eddie puts into all of their kisses, Richie really has a hard time doubting him. 

“Now that this is settled”, Eddie eventually says, once they mutually agree to take a small break from kissing, “Can I continue with my original plan?”

“And what was that plan?”

“You see”, Eddie begins, grinning up at Richie as he speaks, “Originally, I was just going to get you in here, kiss you and once you responded positively to that I was going to suck your dick.” All Richie can get out at that for a few moments is a truly embarrassing amount of sputtering noises and one confused huff after the other. He wants this, very much so, but it still feels overwhelming to have it offered to him on a silver plate like this. At the same time, Eddie looks confident in his words and raises an expectant brow at Richie.

“You sure you didn’t have too much to drink?”, Richie asks before he can stop himself and Eddie’s face falls for a moment, “I just…I wouldn’t want you to…like, do something you’ll regret in the morning?”

“If you keep doubting my ability to make decisions for my own the only thing I’m going to regret tomorrow is that I didn’t choke you out right away”, Eddie gripes. He’s frowning up at Richie but when the older man breaks into a laugh, he can’t help but smile too.

“I mean it. I’m old enough to make decisions for myself.”

“I know. And I’m sorry”, Richie says in apology, “I’m just an idiot, who can’t believe the hottest guy he knows is actually into him.” 

“I’m sure I’m not the hottest guy you know”, Eddie says and rolls his eyes yet again, “But I take the compliment nonetheless.” He looks so done with Richie’s nonsense and thrilled to be with him at the same time that Richie can’t resist and pulls the younger man into another kiss. He intends for it to last for a while but after only a few moments Eddie pulls away and shoots Richie a questioning glance.

“So…blowjob, yes or no?”

“Yes, definitely yes”, Richie hears himself say, his voice already breathy and uneven. Eddie gives him one last smile, then drops to his knees in one swift motion that almost makes Richie dizzy, even though he isn’t even the one doing it. 

Barely two seconds later, Eddie’s hands are on the fly of Richie’s jeans, impatiently undoing the button and zipper before pulling the item of clothing down along with Richie’s boxers.

“Holy shit, you’re big”, Eddie says almost reverently as he sees Richie’s dick for the first time. Above him, Richie blushes furiously. Of course, he knows he’s bigger than most men, even prides himself in it occasionally, but up until now, no one he’s ever been with had looked at his dick with this much excitement and determination in their eyes. Eddie looks as if he’d just gotten the one thing he’d been dreaming of for his whole life and that’s the greatest compliment Richie has possibly ever gotten.

He's about to tell the younger man so, but before he can even open his mouth, Eddie’s hand is wrapped around the base of his cock and his lips sit snugly around the head. Richie curses. One hand grappling for purchase against the door while the other flies to Eddie’s head and buries itself in his hair. Meanwhile, Eddie is suckling idly at the head of Richie’s dick, leaving the brunet feeling dizzy with how fast all the blood in his body seemed to be moving south. Richie had been completely soft when Eddie pulled his pants down but now he can feel himself grow harder by the second. When he chances a glance down at the other man, he lets out an entirely undignified noise at the sight. 

Between his legs, Eddie is working his lips along the head of Richie’s cock, then moving to take more and more of him into his mouth the harder the brunet gets. Soon enough, Richie is sure Eddie is going to reach his limit. He’s almost fully hard now and Eddie is fighting valiantly to take all of him in. Richie wants to tell him not to try so hard, not to hurt himself in an attempt to take all of him in his mouth. But he’s pretty sure all that would get him is being told off and Eddie trying even harder to swallow him down entirely. Instead, Richie closes his eyes and tries to at least keep his hips still so he doesn’t throw the other man off his rhythm. 

But the longer Eddie keeps going, the harder it gets for Richie to hold still. By the time he’s fully hard the younger man has about half his length in his mouth and Richie feels like his brain is going to melt out of his ears at any second. In an attempt not to pull on Eddie’s hair to a point where it’s too painful, he tries to find more purchase against the door. But that doesn’t help much either and soon enough, Richie is swaying between Eddie’s mouth and the door, trying not to lose his mind entirely. Obviously, this is far from Richie’s first rodeo but somehow, just about anything Eddie does feels new and exciting. It doesn’t help that the younger man is ridiculously good at giving head, either. 

Eddie bobs his head up and down Richie’s length at a steady rhythm. And while he can’t take all of Richie into his mouth, he still swallows him down so deeply that the brunet begins to wonder if the other man has a gag reflex at all. In a moment of sheer insanity, Richie actually wants to ask Eddie that but when he opens his mouth all that comes out is a low, needy moan. The look Eddie shoots him at that is so smug, Richie wishes he could become one with the door behind him. 

Then, Eddie’s free hand slips from where it had been resting on Richie’s hip so far, down to the older man’s thigh and squeezes. Suddenly, Richie realizes that he isn’t possibly going to last as long as his dignity is telling him he should. It’s silly, really, if he thinks about it. Both he and Eddie seem to have enough experience to know that coming a little earlier than usual is nothing to be ashamed of. And yet, Richie hates the thought of coming too soon and this whole thing ending. At any other time, he wouldn’t admit this to himself even if someone held a gun to his head but, right now, Richie thinks that he really doesn’t want this to end because he’s terrified that Eddie will change his mind as soon as this is over and kick him out.

But he doesn’t get much time to ponder over this fear because Eddie’s hand wanders from the front of Richie’s thigh to the side of it and when he rakes his nails down the sensitive skin there, the knuckles of his fingers brushing Richie’s balls, the brunet knows he isn’t going to last.

“Hey, Eddie, I-“, is all he gets out before he sees Eddie brace himself and take Richie deeper. The brunet vaguely registers the feeling of the head of his dick touching the velvety-soft skin at the back of Eddie’s throat before his vision whites out completely and he comes. Somewhere deep down, Richie is grateful that all he can hear is the pounding of his own heart in his ears because he is certain that he is making noises that would be better suited for a documentary about deer during mating season. But at least Eddie doesn’t seem to mind. He swallows around Richie, humming contentedly as he goes and continues until Richie begins to wriggle away, the overstimulation too much for him. Eddie, thankfully, takes the hint and draws back until Richie’s softening dick falls from his lips. 

“Holy shit”, Richie mutters and hears a rough chuckle as a reply. 

It takes him a moment to gather the strength to look back down, having thrown his head back at the height of his release. Richie looks at Eddie, still kneeling between his legs, cheeks flushed and lips red and slick with spit. His eyes are glazed over and there’s a faint smile on his face. If Richie still had the refractory period he had when he was Eddie’s age, he’s sure he would be half-hard again at the sight alone. But for now, he is left to admire Eddie, sated and content until he notices movement between the younger man’s legs.

Once Richie has willed his eyes to focus enough to cooperate, a flash of guilt washes over him as he registers Eddie’s hand furiously pumping his cock. The younger man barely took enough time to shove his pants down to his thighs and a stream of constant whimpers is soon falling from his lips as he works to get himself off. 

“Wait, lemme…”, Richie mutters, trying to find a way to get down to Eddie quickly but without fucking up his knees.

But before Richie can even make an attempt, Eddie’s free hand flies to his thigh again, clawing desperately at the meat there. It’s a delicious mix of pleasure-pain and Richie can only watch as Eddie’s hand flies over his length three, four more times before the younger man cries out in ecstasy and reaches his peak. Richie’s eyes are wide as he watches Eddie’s face scrunch up in pleasure. Something hot and possessive in the pit of his stomach tells him that he wants to see this again and again for the rest of his life. Slowly, when Eddie’s grip on his thigh loosens, Richie allows himself to sink down onto his knees in front of the younger man. He brushes a few sweaty strands of hair out of Eddie’s face and then presses a chaste kiss to his forehead.

“Dude, you’re so soft for someone, who just got his dick sucked”, Eddie mutters but he smiles. He’s holding his cum-covered hand away from them at an awkward angle and then pulls Richie in for a kiss. It’s intense and needy but without the hunger from before. This kiss seeks to satisfy an emotional need far more than a physical one. The taste of Richie’s cum and red wine is heavy on Eddie’s lips and his tongue and the brunet feels like he’s going to melt if this continues for too long. He allows himself to sink into it for all of thirty seconds before he slowly pulls away.

“So…now that you’re no longer horny, you still sure you don’t want this to be a one-time thing?”, he asks, allowing his residual worry to take over at least for a moment. Eddie rolls his eyes and goes to grab Richie’s face with both hands. Then, he remembers one of his hands is still covered in cum and he lets both of them sink to his sides again.

“Yes I am”, he says firmly and rises to his feet, “Unless you want to keep asking if I’m sure, that is. Trust me, I’m a big boy. I’ll tell you when I’m not happy.” His voice is steady and he sounds convinced when he says it. There’s also an undercurrent of defiance that Richie makes a mental note to ask about later. For the time being, he gets up too and for a moment, Richie and Eddie just stand in front of each other with their pants down, idling awkwardly.

“I need a shower”, Eddie says and his nose crinkles in disgust as he looks down at his hand.

“Mind if I join you?”, Richie asks on a whim. Now, that he knows what it’s like to be close to Eddie, he doesn’t want to be apart from him anymore.

“Fine. But your insecurities stay outside”, Eddie decides. Both men smile at each other for a moment.

“I think I can do that.

Smile growing wider, Eddie pulls him into another kiss, and this time Richie allows himself to well and truly relax into it. He allows himself to really taste Eddie, to learn the shape and feel of his lips and tongue and the way he moves them when they kiss. The thought that he gets this whenever he wants from now on crashes through Richie like he’s being struck by lightning, and he can’t help but smile into the kiss. Eddie does the same, and the whole thing suddenly feels far more intimate than anything leading up to it. 

Finally, Eddie takes a step back, and, complaining about Richie keeping him from his much-needed shower, he grabs the older man by the wrist and drags him out of the room. Richie lets himself be dragged down the hall and towards the bathroom, content to let Eddie decide their course as long as they can be together…


End file.
